Into Morning
by Merlin Missy
Summary: Jadzia's death is only the beginning of her journey.


Into Morning  
A Star Trek: Deep Space 9 story  
Merlin Missy  
copyright 1999, 2001

Disclaimer: Paramount owns most of the characters. Too bad they have no  
clue how to use them.

* * *

Jadzia opened her eyes. She lay on a table, or a bed, she wasn't  
certain which. Her skin was bare against it, and she thought she should  
be cold. Darkness surrounded her, at the very edges of which she could  
see the outline of the room. The stark lines of the Infirmary were muted  
into soft greys.

The voices were silent. Ever since her Joining, she had known  
them as tiny, incessant whispers in her mind, echoes of other lifetimes  
carried into her waking thoughts, not memories but more primitive  
emotions and sensations. _Of course they're gone, she reasoned, Julian  
took away Dax._

She sat up suddenly. _Dax is gone. I'm going to die. Worf!_  
She remembered the attack, the pain, the operation, the sound of Worf's  
death scream. She touched her abdomen, felt nothing more than the tickle  
of spider gossamer. _What's happening to me?_

_She's awake,_ came a voice from everywhere and nowhere.  
Jadzia's head spun around, but she saw no one. An overhead speaker,  
perhaps? She heard laughter in her ears.

_No, not a speaker._ This was a different voice.

_Jadzia, open your eyes._ A third voice, familiar, but the  
identity was beyond her memory.

_I did!_ She blinked, trying to clear them. Still she was  
enveloped in darkness.

Something touched her hand, smooth, almost firm. _It's all  
right. You'll adjust. We all have._ It was a hand on hers. She took  
it, held it as tight as she could, as anything she could touch.

_Who are you? Where am I?_

A chuckle._ So many questions. You were always so curious.  
_  
She tried pulling her hand back, found no resistance from the  
other. Without the touch, she was alone, lost in this darkness. She  
shivered.

_Don't be afraid,_ said another voice. _You cannot be harmed  
here, not ever again._

Not even by him, a voice said sardonically. They had  
personalities, then.

_Of course we have personalities,_ she heard, and more laughter.

_Don't be afraid,_ repeated a voice.

_Open your eyes,_ said the familiar voice.

_I tried!_

_You're thinking like you're still alive_, he admonished. _Open  
your eyes.  
_  
She didn't understand, and then she did.

Jadzia opened her eyes.

The other Dax's stood around her, all but one smiling. Curzon  
took her hand again. Hesitantly, she stood, turning to see them all.

_Welcome,_ said Audrid, embracing her.

_We've been watching you,_ said Lela. Curzon squeezed her hand.

_I hope ... I haven't disappointed you._

_Go away,_ Joran said. The others ignored him.

_Ummm ... Hi,_ said Tobin, which surprised her. Emony and  
Torias murmured hellos.

_It's time,_ said Curzon.

_Time for what?_ she asked, but allowed him to lead her. A  
doorway she had not noticed before beckoned. Curzon led her through,  
with the others following behind. As they walked, it seemed as though at  
times the group was ahead of them, even Curzon, but he held her hand  
gently the entire time.

They were nearing something.

To the side, she saw light reflected from a face. _Ziyal!_

The younger woman's eyes were bright. _Welcome, Jadzia._ She  
reached out her hand. Jadzia took it, felt the warmth but no substance.  
Their fingers entwined. Silently, Ziyal walked beside her. Curzon did  
not let go.

Bareil stood not far beyond Ziyal. His always-beatific face  
radiated calm. He touched her shoulder, and she felt a brush like a  
chick's feather. _Welcome._

They passed other faces. From a picture Alexander kept, she  
recognized K'Ehleyhr. She said nothing, but joined them in their walk.  
_Are you angry with me?_ Jadzia wondered.

_Never,_ came the gentle, amused reply. _It was good to see him  
happy again.  
_  
Another woman joined them, her oval face framed by short blonde  
hair. Jadzia thought perhaps she'd seen her in a picture once, one of  
Worf's old friends.

More people joined them, faces familiar and not so, all quiet,  
all with Cheshire smiles. She was no longer afraid, as her senses  
opened, letting her touch the invisible force of their affection. She  
had Curzon's hand, and Ziyal's, but she felt as if she touched every  
being who walked with them down the dark passageway. She turned her  
head, saw Joran scowling beside her.

_Even you,_ she thought.

The grey gradually gave way to a lesser darkness. She felt as  
though she had been walking for thirty-four years, or three hundred.  
They came to a stop in front of a door. Twenty feet tall and made of  
onyx, it was cool to her fingers, a new sensation in this place of no  
touch. Around the edges, she saw light stabbing outwards. She turned  
to see the others, found that no one was with her.

_Where did you go?_ she asked, fearfully.

Her sense of the others, her hosts, her friends, those she had  
not even known, emanated from the other side of the door.

Her fingers skittered over the surface, finding a handle. She  
grasped it, then heard something behind her.

Nerys leaned against Odo's shoulder, sobbing. Benjamin held his  
fists tight together. Julian stood beside Quark, neither moving, both  
trapped in a glassy shock. Alexander wiped his eyes on his sleeve. Jake  
touched his arm, then stood beside his own father. Nog and Rom watched  
her with matching looks of sorrow. Leeta smiled through her tears, then  
wept openly.

Worf stood alone, cloaked in rage and seething pain. His eyes  
were dark, his jaw set. Had this been his reaction to K'Ehleyhr's  
death? She tried to speak to him, let him know that she was all right,  
that everything was all right now. She had no voice, only thoughts.

_Stay,_ he said.

_I love you,_ she sent, and hoped he heard. She faced the door  
again, and with all her strength, she turned the handle to the left, and  
pulled. The light blinded her as she stepped through the doorway.

Jadzia opened her eyes. She stood in sunlight.

The End


End file.
